Capcom knows how horny we are for Street Fighter. It understood that for Resident Evil too, so it’s only a matter of time until we’re on all fours barking at Dino Crisis. Chun-Li has dialogue found in the World Tour campaign mode which asks the player whether we’ve been busy ogling her thighs, and the only two answers available are some variation of being obscenely down bad.
Despite protests from players that modern (read: woke) controls are ruining competitive play, Street Fighter 6 is the series firing on all cylinders with a distinct recognition of its history. The original eight characters are present with a handful of newcomers, and all of them sport outfits that pay obvious homage to what came before. In Cammy’s case, this only serves to look silly and expose her butthole.
Alternate costumes aside, nearly every single character in Street Fighter 6 is muscular, buff, toned, and dressed in a way that emphasises all these qualities. Chun-Li is a bit older albeit more regal in this instalment with her traditional garb, but every single kick she makes helps to highlight her massive thighs that could easily blow a watermelon to pieces. Her form feels like it was made possible through decades of practice, Cammy ditches her iconic leotard for a stylish jacket and yoga pants, but it’s an outfit that makes her look strong, sexy, and in control of whatever situation she stumbles across.
She uses cat emojis in her text messages though, so this hardened badass is secretly a pussycat. Lily is the only one who rubs me the wrong way this time around, since the new character is coded on the younger side but each match begins with a needless close up of her crotch as she spreads her legs while jumping into battle. She’s cute and has a killer look, but her sexualistion is uncomfortable instead of confident, a misstep which Street Fighter 6 thankfully doesn’t make very often. The rest of its female cast are beautifully dressed while taking advantage of very specific aesthetic eccentricities. Juri is all about her feet, Marisa is a fridge in human form, and Kimberly is a hypermodern princess with so much charm. While you could argue Street Fighter 6 puts fan service at the forefront a little too often, at least the male counterparts appear on equal footing. Everyone is sexy and everyone knows it.
Street Fighter 6’s reveal trailer featuring Luke and Ryu left us with two main takeaways in the form of big bulges and big toes. We couldn’t take our eyes off Ryu’s package or the fact he was letting the dogs hang out for all to see. Our horny prerogative was clear from the start, and judging from some of the dialogue found in the game itself, Capcom is totally leaning into how games, and our thirst for their biggest faces, have evolved. Ryu and Ken are two gorgeous, emotionally stunted men with muscles for days, and I’m struggling to take my eyes off them.
It’s a far cry from the banana hair and fashion disasters of the last game, with even the likes of Dee Jay, Zangief, and Jamie pulling up to slay the day away. Thankfully my use of modern controls means I am free to observe the goods while still pulling off combos, and the presence of World Tour and extensive Arcade offerings turns each of these fighters into real people worth caring about. It’s all boobs, bulges, and backstories. A killer mixture.
Capcom has somehow avoided the deplorable filth that accompanies fighters like Dead Or Alive because the attractiveness of its characters is blended into the overall aesthetic, and each character is a larger than life celebrity the general public all worship, and thus their muscle-bound forms take on a fitting level of reverence. To be honest, I’d signed up for this the second I glimpsed Luke’s forearms that are easily twice the width of his entire head. Ryu’s bulge and Chun Li’s thighs feel tame after that deviance of bodily proportions.
Street Fighter 6 is so beloved already not just because it plays like a dream and opens the doors for millions to enjoy a series that once felt impenetrable, it also brings characters who have persisted into the modern era with a fun, sexy, and infectious attitude that seldom falls to victim to tropes that spew out fan service just for the sake of it.